Labor Day became a Federal holiday 130 years ago due to the advocacy of labor and union activists who pushed for a federal holiday to recognize the many contributions of the American worker.  

Each Labor Day many of our elected officials will proudly issue statements such as this from Westchester County Executive George Latimer:  “We must commemorate the contributions of our union brothers and sisters. In this Country – and County – we can thank the labor movement for many of the worker protections we enjoy, and often take for granted, today. This weekend, when celebrating the unofficial close of summer, take a moment to remember the efforts of working men and women both past and present.”

To move from rhetoric to meaningful and much needed reform, let’s push our elected officials to:

1. Move from discussions of a minimum wage to requiring a living wage in publicly subsidized projects.  No one should work a full-time job and still remain in poverty.
2. Beef up criminal and financial penalties for employers who routinely steal wages. Wage thefts happen regularly in Westchester and take years to be resolved. 
3. Set up mobile job and training sites for day laborers and the small businesses and individuals that employ them. In the 1990’s one operated successfully in New Rochelle, but it was closed during the Chuck Strome/Noam Bramson administration. 
4. Demand that all private/public construction include prevailing wages and/or union participation. 
5. Encourage and incentivize employee cooperatives.
6. Make a pathway to a union career in construction and building maintenance for high school students an accredited opportunity for a HS diploma. 

Labor Day is about the rights, safety and dignity of all workers.  For this to happen, action”s”, not platitudes, are  needed.